I Died and Received an SSS-Rank Unique Ability-Chapter 57: Cave Again?!

Vale’s vision blurred as he tumbled down the mountain slope. He extended his weapon, dragging its blade across the icy surface in a desperate attempt to slow down his descent—but it was to no avail. His weapon slipped across the thick layers of snow and ice.

"Dammit!" he cursed inwardly. "Of all things... I’m gonna die by falling?!"

The thought might have been comical—if he wasn’t in the middle of plummeting to his death. Gritting his teeth, he glanced around, searching for his companions. Dain was below him, his heavy frame dragging him down faster with every second. Klein was just above—but where was Ayla?

A sudden jolt hit him as he slammed into a jagged rock, sending his body into a spin. As he twisted mid-air, he caught a glimpse above.

There she was.

She slid effortlessly down the slope, as if the treacherous descent meant nothing to her. She moved with the grace of falling snow, untouched by the chaos around her.

"Of course," Vale muttered inside his head, remembering the nature of her ability. How could she fall to her death if she could simply become weightless?

He snapped back to the present. There was no time for awe—they had to find a way to stop before the mountain did it for them.

His thoughts shifted to his relic, the four-eyed raven, but he was quick to dismiss it. The bird was far too small to carry any of them. The knight would probably make them fall even faster... Was this really the end?

He tightened the grip on his sword, straining to drive the blade deep into the mountain. But the tip scraped uselessly against the thick, frozen ice—his weapon slipping as gravity yanked his body downward in a freefall.

"There!" Ayla’s voice rang out above the wind, sharp and urgent. In the blink of an eye, she dropped past him, her descent unnaturally fast—as if her weight had suddenly multiplied tenfold.

Just ahead of them, nestled along the slope of the icy mountain, yawned a massive opening—a gaping wound in the rock veiled in shadows and rimmed with frost.

Ayla, already near it, slowed her descent once more. She reached out, catching hold of a jagged outcrop of stone protruding from the mouth of the cavern. Her boots skidded slightly against the ice as she steadied herself.

The massive student was already nearing the edge.

With no time to waste, Ayla’s ability shifted—her mass manipulation shifting toward the student—and with a powerful shove, she hurled him into the cavern’s dark maw. Dain vanished instantly into the shadows.

Vale barely had time to process the moment before he was upon it as well. The girl stood poised atop the jagged rock, her silhouette outlined by the dim, bluish light reflecting off the ice. Then, with a flick of her wrist, Vale’s body lost all weight—his fall slowed dramatically, like drifting through water.

"Woah," he gasped, the sudden shift in his body’s mass felt surreal.

But there was no time to marvel at the girl’s unique ability. Without delay, Ayla shoved him in just as a monstrous figure appeared behind her.

The ice dragon.

It must have noticed their escape, and now it loomed just above Ayla, its massive, scaled, ice-like body suspended in the air like a death sentence.

Vale, however, didn’t see what happened next. The girl vanished from his sight as he plummeted into the vertical tunnel, the world above swallowed by darkness.

He tumbled down a spiky edge lined with jagged rocks and ice-blades that tore at his skin, each second feeling like an eternity. Blood mingled with frost as cuts opened along his arms and legs, pain flaring across his body.

Then—light. A vast, glimmering cavern opened beneath him.

With a bone-shattering thud, he slammed into the rocky ground. The sound echoed through the chamber like thunder on a quiet night. His limbs trembled, muscles twitching from the impact, but before he could process the pain, his gaze shot upward—back toward the tunnel above.

"Ayla!" The thought screamed in his mind. The image of the massive ice dragon looming above the girl remained seared into his memory.

Suddenly, a piercing scream echoed through the air—followed by a heavy thud.

Klein crashed into the ground beside him, dust and frost kicking up from the impact.

But Vale’s eyes were still locked on the hole above. Seconds passed. It felt like time stretched, warping around his breathless anxiety.

Then—a flicker of purple emerged from the opening.

Ayla descended slowly, her figure glowing faintly. Her fall was gentle and controlled. She landed with a soft tap, her breath ragged but her body unharmed.

Gracefully, Ayla descended from above. Her fall was gentle and completely controlled by her ability. She landed with nothing more than a soft tap, her breath ragged but her body unharmed.

"Are you okay?" Vale asked, his voice carrying a hint of concern.

The girl’s gaze shifted toward him. She offered a faint smile before replying, "Yeah, I escaped in time... though I don’t think we can use that entrance to leave. It’s completely blocked by ice now."

The image of the dragon’s last ice attack reappeared in Vale’s mind.

"Figures," he muttered. If it had used its freezing breath, then the path would be sealed shut now.

Though even if they wanted to leave that way, Vale doubted they could.

The opening loomed at least ten meters above them—far too high for a jump. Maybe they could use Ayla’s ability to launch her up to the nearest rocks, but the rest of them?

No. That exit was far beyond their reach.

"Dammit," Vale cursed under his breath. A bitter memory resurfaced—his first trial, waking in a dark cavern and almost dying there.

"Another damned cave..."

He narrowed his eyes and looked around. With Klein’s light artifact activated, a soft, bluish glow spread through the darkness as he studied his surroundings.

The cave looked primarily made of ice, thick, glassy sheets stretching across all surfaces, their crystalline textures reflecting the light like frozen mirrors. Only occasional dark rocks jutted out from beneath the frost. They appeared to be in a vast, domed cavern, its ceiling lost in shadows. Numerous tunnels and narrow paths branched outwards like veins.

Glittering chunks of ice hung from above—some the length of spears, others barely visible—all suspended in eerie stillness.

There was no way out in sight.

He sighed deeply, still in half-disbelief to be stuck in a cave once again.